I know a cop in Jersey.This particular police
officer was dating a woman who was in the employ of my common law wife.Let's
call him Jerry, and since I'm about to spill the beans, that's not his real
name.He's on the force of a small nearby
municipality.There are over 560 such
police forces in geographically tiny New
Jersey.

One night he gave me the straight poop on dealing with officers of the
law.In fact, since I was nice enough to
buy him and his girlfriend dinner and beers, I was later rewarded with a New
Jersey State Policeman's Benevolent Association (PBA) card as a birthday
present.Yes, the infamous "get out of
jail free card" that Professor Gates obviously lacked, at least momentarily.
And I was told exactly how to use it.

According to Professor Harvey A. Silvergate, Gates'
Unconstitutional Arrest (Forbes.com 7/28/09) "There's a First Amendment
right to be rude to a cop." To that I reply, yes and no.Professor Silvergate lays out the legal case
expertly.You have an indisputably right
to dis a cop but, no you don't.It will
just end badly and it's never been tested in court. Professor Gates missed his and our opportunity
to establish a court precedent when the clever district attorney dropped the
charges.

As I chatted with Officer Jerry, one thing became very clear.If there was anything he wanted in his
dealings with the common citizenry it was R-E-S-P-E-C-T!To him this should be signified in various
ways.To exude fear is good.Using the title Officer is good.Asking permission to do things, like take
your wallet out of you glove box, is good. Telling the truth is good.Being a good little boy or girl is good.That means no lip, no questioning authority.

In another recent commentary America
the Great " Police State , (Truthdig.com 7/28/09) Gore Vidal makes the
salient argument that the Gates affair had nothing to do with race. That it
was, like most run-ins with the authorities at this juncture, about class and
power. In this case, I agree, but DWB - DrivingWhile being Black - and other racially motivated police actions are
well-documented phenomenon not to be dismissed. I will not make the case
here that the police are out-of-control. Mr. Vidal does that nicely.

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Instead, let me illustrate the fallacy of thinking "you've got nothing to
worry about as long as you are on the right side of the law." Here's a
story I recounted for Jerry to challenge this notion.

I was given a summons for Obstructing Traffic, which is a vehicular
violation. But, in fact, I was on foot. What I did was crossMain Street in Asbury
Park, NJ on my way to catch the New York City train at
six o'clock on a September 2001 morning, in the intersection crosswalk with the
green light. A car, signaling to make a left turn, waved me to cross as I
waited for him to clear the intersection. And, in New Jersey, pedestrians always have the
right-of-way in a crosswalk. The full story can be read at Crossing Main, originally
published in the Tri-City News on September 6, 2001.

Jerry dismissed this slight injustice that cost me $44 and made me jump
through hoops to avoid an increase in my auto insurance.Could I have fought it?Sure, but I didn't and still don't have the
time or money for such skirmishes with the law, few of us do.

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"Yeah, it sounds like he had a bad day," was Jerry's only retort.Gee, I was hoping for "he had to make his
quota."Jerry told me that there are no
quotas per se, but the system is designed to "make you a ticket writer."

When I got the PBA card on my birthday I was told exactly how to use
it.If I was pulled over I was to hand
the police person my drivers license, registration, insurance card and the PBA
card in a stack.The PBA card was not
to be on top.When the officer asked where
I got the card I was to say, "A good friend of mine, Jerry [lastname] who is a
[rank] on the [name of town] police department gave it to me."

Why is this legal?I don't really
know, but on the back of the card, where you sign it, you agree to drive safely,
obey the traffic laws, etc.I don't
believe it should be legal.I believe
it's a form of corruption pure and simple.But, hey, who's going to sue the cops?Who wants to be on the wrong side of the law?That said - Yes, I did use the card. Over a year later, the card already expired; I got
pulled over for an expired registration. I did the PBA card script with the
police officer. He took the card away and gave me a ticket, but he could have
impounded my truck as well.

That same night, on the way home, I was pulled over again by the New Jersey
State Police, again for expired registration.

I was having a bad day.At that
point, I couldn't even find my wallet and driver's license.It had fallen between the door and the
passenger seat.I showed the State
Trooper the sealed envelop that had the original ticket and a check for the
fine, all addressed and stamped and ready to be mailed.He had me open it and show it to him.Then, he took pity on me and let me go.

That's right, no PBA card necessary, I just followed the police encounter
"be a good boy" script the cop I know in Jersey
told me about.

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Read the comments to any blog on the Gates incident and those who take
Officer Crowley's side basically say the same thing: Professor Gates was
"stupid" for not following the police encounter script and that alone made him
a criminal.

It's no crime to not follow "the script" but it could get you arrested.And, if you aren't a national figure, or in
the top 10% of wage earners, at minimum it will be a big hassle.

Chaz Valenza is writer and small business owner in New Jersey. He earned his MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business. His current feature film project is "Single Point Failure" an insider's account of how the Reagan Administration (more...)

"Humans have spent 99 percent of our developmental time in the wild kingdom, which tutored us in what Rob Kall calls bottom-up values?small, local, interdependent, respectful, egalitarian and decentralized -- and which the world desperately needs in order to balance out some of the darker impulses of top-down values. His faith that bottom-up values represent a critical re-balancing act for humanity, if not an outright better mousetrap, is compelling and hard-won, and I offer him a high-five for his courageous inquiry into the deep wisdom inherent in our age-old intimacy with natural rhythms, native intelligences, and interconnectedness."

Gregg Levoy, author of Callings and Vital Signs

Author Mark Taliano combines years of research with on-the-ground observations to present an informed and well-documented analysis that refutes the mainstream media narrative.